Colonization (17 page)

I pressed a few buttons, waiting for something to happen, but the most I got was an overhead light.

“Damn.”

I smacked the wheel, making my hand tingle. I didn’t have time for this.

“Touch the start screen.”

I jumped at the familiar voice, feeling I’d been caught red-handed.

Corvus stood below me, shining a beacon light into the Landrover.

I squinted against the light and held my hand over my eyes. “What are you doing here?”

He chuckled. “I should be asking you that.”

It dawned on me as I recognized the badge on his uniform. “You made head of security?”

Corvus smiled as if he’d won the position of lieutenant. “Yes.”

“Congratulations. I watched you defeat that big flower.” It was a giant promotion from construction grunt to head of security, and my words weren’t enough. I wished I could have been there with him in the moment, and what I offered was too little too late.

He didn’t seem to mind. “I know you were there. You helped me win.” He looked down, blood rushing to his cheeks.

“Me? All I did was stand there and worry. But I knew you could do it. You’re the right man for the job.”

“Thanks. That means a lot.”

I felt my cheeks heating and I couldn’t believe my reaction. It was just Corvus, but now he was different. His confidence shone stronger and it made him look older. His body filled out the uniform well. I had to remind myself not to stare. “I’ve been wanting to tell you, it’s just I haven’t had a chance.”

“That’s okay. I haven’t been around much, and I’m sorry. It’s tough adjusting to my new schedule. They need all the guards they can get to patrol, and it’s my job to train them. The ones we have are overworked and exhausted. Our territory is expanding each day.”

I thought of the guard sleeping at the
New Dawn
’s portal. “I guess you’re right.”

His tone changed from trivial to serious. “Where are you going?”

I sighed, trying to find a way out of telling him the truth, but I couldn’t bring myself to lie to him. “I’m going after the missing Corsair.”

“Because Sirius is on it?”

“No.” My voice came out too forceful, embarrassing me. “Because it’s my fault they’re lost, and I know where they are.”

“How can you know?”

It all came pouring out. “I have a strange feeling something bad is behind that ridge, something threatening our entire colony, the same thing that made Ray and Amber sick. I can’t tell you how I know. I just know.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to sort it all out and explain it in a way he’d understand. “I asked Sirius to detour his scout mission to investigate the ridge. I wasn’t aware of the dangerous air currents at the time. If Sirius knew, he didn’t tell me. I sent him straight into danger.”

His voice softened. “Annie, it’s not your fault. Sirius had to make the ultimate decision to go, whether you asked him to or not.”

I didn’t tell Corvus about Sirius’s feelings for me. I didn’t tell him about the kiss. “Please, Corvus. Please don’t turn me in.” He’d have to risk his job for me, and all I’d ever done was brush him off.

Corvus smiled. “I’m not going to turn you in.”

I blinked in shock. “It’s your job.”

He climbed up the tires faster than I could have taken a breath to deny him. His face came up beside mine, set in determination. “I’m going with you.”

Corvus go with me to save Sirius? The irony of that situation made me want to laugh hysterically until I cried. “I’m not going to have you sacrifice your promotion for me.”

“What’s the use of a promotion if the colony doesn’t succeed? If people die?”

My face flushed hot. Corvus believed in me as much as Great-grandma Tiff. He didn’t question my feelings or my irrational concerns.

He just believed me.

I wanted to wrap my arms around him. He was so solid and sure.

Instead, I slipped into the passenger seat. “You know how to drive one of these things?”

“Of course. I used to be on the construction team, remember?”

He flicked his fingertips over a panel and slipped his ID card into a slit near the steering wheel. The computer screens came alive, lighting up the inside of the Landrover in white light.

Suddenly, being a former construction worker seemed out-of-this-galaxy cool. I smiled as big as my mouth would stretch. Corvus smiled back with a sparkle in his eyes. He shifted into first gear and the engines revved up.

“Where to?”

Chapter Twenty

Uncharted Paths

The world went by in a blur of green and violet in the headlights of the Landrover as we plowed our way through the jungle turf. I laughed and hollered, batting my fist in the air. Leaving the ship behind, freedom coursed through me. Corvus laughed with me, keeping his eyes on the topography charts and the path ahead of us.

Monster Trillium blossoms splattered on the windshield, spreading violet goop. Corvus clicked a switch and plastic blades swiped the vegetation off. I decided these Landrovers were the coolest invention the engineering team made. I was done with feeling sorry for Paradise 21.

“Won’t they follow our tracks?”

“Nah. The scout team drove Landrovers all over this area. There must be dozens of trails. It would take them days to find ours.”

“How much fuel do we have?”

Corvus wiped fog off the gauge. “Enough to go to the ridge and back again.”

“Good.” I sat back in relief and let my body jostle with the bumps as the tires dug up the turf underneath us. It felt good to be covering some ground, cleaning up the mess I made. Although, in another way, I was making my mess even bigger. “What will they do to us?”

“Don’t think about that. Think about saving the colony and your friends.”

His words soothed my racing heart. Corvus always knew the right way to look at the world. He didn’t let little things bother him, and I found that more and more attractive. He caught me looking at him and I flicked my eyes back to the glow of the headlights. He reached across the computer panels. My heart jumped as I thought he reached for me, but his fingers punched in a code. Light techno music drifted up from the speakers behind us. I recognized the song instantly.

He looked at me. “Do you remember?”

I did, but for some unexplainable reason I didn’t want him to know. “What do you mean?”

“That’s the song they played at the celebration. You know, under the light show.”

Of course I knew. I couldn’t hide it any longer. My face burned. “That’s the song we danced to together.”

“It’s our song, Annie.”

His words left me speechless. I’d never had something to share as a couple and I kind of liked the idea. In another way, it scared me worse than plummeting through a black hole. Both led to uncharted paths, places I’d never been before and wasn’t sure I wanted to go. Here we were, driving on our own undiscovered trail. It was happening right before my eyes, and I was helpless to stop it.

Not wanting to talk about our relationship, I put my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. The rhythmic beat of the song carried me away, and I slept unhindered by dreams.

***

Hazy purple light danced in my eyes, and I wondered where I was. I’d programmed my sleep pod to shine bright white radiance in the morning to wake me. This was nothing like it.

“Good morning, sleepy.”

My whole body jerked up as the Landrover hit a bump and the night came flashing back with snippets of the techno melody. I’d escaped from the ship and stolen a Landrover. “Corvus! You drove through the whole night?”

He shrugged. “I’m used to being up all night because of my job, remember?”

Embarrassment came over me. I was the one who started the mission, yet Corvus had done all the work so far.

“I can’t believe I let myself sleep so long.” I looked up at the light filtering down through the vines. “It must be almost noon.”

“You looked exhausted, so I didn’t want to wake you.”

He was one to talk. His eyes were bloodshot, and his shoulders slouched back against the seat. “You need to rest. Let me take the wheel.”

He raised his pale eyebrows. “Do you know how to drive?”

I shrugged. “How hard can it be?”

“I’ll have to teach you.”

“I’m sure I can do it.” It was the only way to keep going. Every second, Sirius and the other members of the team might be hurt or in trouble, and the pressing tick of time suffocated me.

“All right.” Corvus said it as though I said I’d play a game with him. He pressed on a few pedals with his feet and the Landrover ground to a halt.

“Hold on.” I unbuckled my seat restraints and rummaged through my backpack.

“Do you have Landrover operator directions in there?”

“No.” I pulled out a container of dried fruit from the dehydrator. “Even better. I have breakfast.”

“Wow, you came prepared.” Corvus reached over and picked out a dried peach.

“Considering I had no idea how I was going to drive this thing, I don’t think so.” Failure weighed me down.

“I bet you would have figured it out without me.” Corvus popped the peach in his mouth and took a handful of raisins.

“I don’t think so.” Now was the time to say it, but the words were so hard for me to form. “Thank you for driving this far.”

His words flowed sweet as honey. “No problem. I’d do anything for you, Annie.”

I almost choked on a dried fig. The moment hung awkward in the air between us. He drew me in like he had me on a string and twirled me closer each minute we spent together. Then I thought of Sirius lying hurt somewhere, and guilt seeped in. “So are you going to show me how to drive this thing or what?”

“Sure. Come on over.”

He scooted over and I wiggled out of the passenger seat and sat in the driver’s seat beside him. His body felt warm against mine as he explained the multiple screens and topography charts.

All the information made my head swirl, but I tried my best to understand.

“Watch out for the red areas on the chart. Those indicate crystals popping up from the turf and the Landrover’s tires, thick as they are, can’t handle their jagged outcroppings.”

“Got it.”

“The fuel pedal is here.” He tapped the toe of his boot on the floor. I stretched my leg out but couldn’t reach it.

Corvus smiled sympathetically, although I couldn’t imagine how he’d know how embarrassing it felt to be so small. “I’ll adjust the seat for you.”

Corvus stepped out of the vehicle and pushed the seat up so my foot could reach the pedal. He walked around the front, pulling off some tangled vines, and slipped into the passenger seat.

“Okay, navigator, give it a try.”

I touched my toes to the pedal and the Landrover lurched forward faster than I thought it would. I screamed and pulled my foot off and the tires stopped abruptly, sending us both forward.

Corvus braced himself against the dashboard. “Nice try. Now, try braking more slowly.”

“Shut up.” I smiled, and we both laughed. Taking a deep breath, I tried again with a gentler touch. The Landrover rolled ahead, and I pressed a little harder, gaining speed. I watched the path laid out for us on the topography charts. Driving was easier than I thought.

When enough time had elapsed to convince Corvus I wasn’t going to crash, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. My eyes fell into a pattern—watch the topography charts, then watch the sight panel, back and forth until the rhythm of it lulled me into a trance.

My mind roamed to places I hadn’t allowed it to go before. Now and then I stole a glance at Corvus as he slept, taking in how the purple sun shined on his broad nose and how his golden blond hair, now growing out, had started to curl at the ends. Was he dreaming? If so, what were his dreams about?

What would a life with Corvus be like? He would always be there for me, no question about that. He wasn’t as dumb as I’d thought he was, just subdued, not as flashy and outgoing as the others in our class. So what if he was a construction worker turned head of security? I was a species integration assistant. Together we made a well-balanced team. Why was I so against our match in the first place?

I almost forgot about the mission and Sirius. The screen beeped a warning, and I looked down to see an army of red dots approaching in a semicircle. A voice sounded:
warning, unchartable terrain.
There was no path laid out. The computer had abandoned me.

“Corvus,” I shouted at him, not wanting to take my hands off the wheel. “Wake up!”

How did I stop the Landrover? I couldn’t remember. I pressed every button I could and slammed my feet on the other pedals on the floor. Grasping the wheel in my slippery fingers, I reached over and shook Corvus’s arm. “Wake up!”

“Huh?” He was groggy until he looked at the screens and jolted awake. “Brake, Annie, brake!”

The red dots got bigger, and the voice sounded again.
Warning, unchartable terrain
.

“I don’t remember how.”

“Left pedal. Push it all the way down.”

I always got left and right confused. Although my schoolmates picked on me, I didn’t think it was a big deal until now, until our lives depended on it.

“Left pedal!” Corvus repeated himself as if it would somehow dawn on me.

I took a guess and slammed my foot down. The crystal field grew larger in front of us like giant monster grass.

The Landrover slammed into the first outcropping, and we pitched forward. My seat restraints pushed against my chest, and for a second I thought the belts would slice me in two. I jolted backward and hit my head against the seat. Pain exploded behind my eyes. My mind jumped inside itself, blocking out the outside world.

I must have fallen unconscious because I heard Corvus’s voice resonating by my ear. “You all right?”

His touch was warm against my arms and neck, probing for broken bones. My body felt like jelly, but nothing hurt too badly. I opened my eyes and looked into his face, a breath away, so close it startled me. “Yeah. Are you okay?”

“I think so.” He pulled away quicker than I wanted him to and opened his door, stepping out to assess the damage. A crystal shard pointed directly at my head, inches from the sight panel. If I’d gone any further, the tip would be staked through my heart.